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Ninety-four years ago today, the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States took effect, enshrining American women’s right to vote. Fifty years later, in the midst of a new wave of feminist activism, Congress designated 26 August as Women’s Equality Day in the United States. The 1971 Joint Resolution read, in part, “the women of the United States have been treated as second-class citizens and have not been entitled the full rights and privileges, public or private, legal or institutional, which are available to male citizens of the United States” and women “have united to assure that these rights and privileges are available to all citizens equally regardless of sex.” For that reason, Congress was prevailed upon to declare 26 August a day to commemorate the the Nineteenth Amendment as a “symbol of the continued fight for equal rights.”

Alice Paul was a pivotal and controversial figure in the last years of the American battle to win the vote for women. Her first national action was to organize a grand suffrage procession in Washington, DC on 3 March 1913. She organized the parade on behalf of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), the only group working to win women the vote on a national scale. She later founded her own organization, the National Woman’s Party, and charted a surprisingly aggressive course of social protests to convince Congress to pass a woman suffrage amendment to the Constitution.

Alice Paul lived long enough to see Women’s Equality Day established; she died in 1977. She did not live to see the project which consumed the remaining years of her life ratified — an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. In 2014, a renewed effort emerged to pass the ERA.

As Women’s Equality Day is celebrated around the country today, here are a few things you may not know about suffrage leader and ERA author Alice Paul:

1. Alice Paul was proudly a birthright Quaker, but as she became interested in politics, she became frustrated with her faith’s reluctance to actively work for woman suffrage. We often associate Quakers with political activism, but in the late nineteenth century, the vast majority of Quakers disapproved of such efforts.

2. Paul loved dancing and sports. Indeed, her love for physical activity was a factor in drawing her into social protest, first in England, then in America. In her high school and college years, she played softball, basketball, hockey, and tennis, and also ice skated when she could. She learned to dance while attending Swarthmore College near Philadelphia and regretted her few opportunities to attend dances in her later years.

3. Paul was arrested seven times in England for her suffrage activism, but only once in America. The longest sentence she served in Britain was one month. In the United States, she was sentenced to seven months, but only served one.

4. Paul endured forced feeding fifty-five times in London’s Holloway Prison in 1909 and perhaps another twenty-five times while at the District of Columbia’s Jail in 1917. Authorities used forced feeding to break the hunger strikes initiated by suffrage prisoners. Some women suffered health problems as a result. Alice Paul struggled with digestive issues for years after and may have lost her sense of smell.

5. Paul is often portrayed as eager to leave NAWSA to found her own militant suffrage group. In fact, she did so only when her hand was forced. Divisions over strategy or tactics are nothing new to any political group and NAWSA itself came about only in 1890 after two long-estranged suffrage organizations compromised in order to present a united front. The 1914 effort to oust the controversial Alice Paul from NAWSA arose from multiple sources, including the current NAWSA president, Anna Howard Shaw and once-and-future president, Carrie Chapman Catt.

6. Paul’s persona as a leader combined stereotypically feminine and masculine traits in a way that invited fervent loyalty or deep-seated antipathy. Her dislike of the spotlight and ingrained modesty lent her a vulnerability which undercut concerns about her militant past and her powerful drive. Others found her charismatic authority threatening.

7. Though the protests of Paul’s National Woman’s Party are often described as “civil disobedience,” Paul believed all of her actions were completely within the law. Before Paul initiated picketing to protest the lack of a suffrage amendment in 1917, picketing was largely the province of labor organizations. After consulting with attorneys about the legality of the practice, Paul adapted the silent vigil of two earlier protests and sent “silent sentinels” to picket the White House. While labor picketing often prompted violence on both sides, Paul gave her troops strict instructions to remain non-violent. Violence was, however, visited upon them by bystanders outraged by the women’s insistence on pressing for suffrage while the country was engaged in World War I.

8. Paul’s most colorful protests occurred after the House of Representatives passed the suffrage amendment bill. It took another eighteen months to convince the Senate to pass the amendment. To maintain pressure on Congress, Alice Paul crafted watchfire protests across from the White House in Lafayette Square, during which suffragists burned President Wilson’s words about his much-celebrated belief in democracy. They even burned Wilson in effigy to urge him to use his political power to sway the Senate.

9. Alice Paul was not present during the frenzied effort to make Tennessee the ratifying state for the suffrage amendment. She longed to be at the Tennessee statehouse, but NWP lobbying required a constant input of cash. Her ability to raise funds surpassed anyone else’s, so she chose to stay in Washington to keep the money flowing. Paul’s ability to raise funds was a key factor in the success of the NWP.

10. Alice Paul bequeathed us the iconic images of the battle for the ballot: photographs of the 1913 procession, the 1917 White House pickets, the 1918 watchfire protests. These images speak to the courage, the persistence and the fortitude of all the women who fought to gain the most fundamental right of citizenship: the right to consent.

Ninety-four years ago today, the Nineteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States took effect, enshrining American women’s right to vote. Fifty years later, in the midst of a new wave of feminist activism, Congress designated 26 August as Women’s Equality Day in the United States. The 1971 Joint Resolution read, in part, “the women of the United States have been treated as second-class citizens and have not been entitled the full rights and privileges, public or private, legal or institutional, which are available to male citizens of the United States” and women “have united to assure that these rights and privileges are available to all citizens equally regardless of sex.” For that reason, Congress was prevailed upon to declare 26 August a day to commemorate the the Nineteenth Amendment as a “symbol of the continued fight for equal rights.”

Alice Paul was a pivotal and controversial figure in the last years of the American battle to win the vote for women. Her first national action was to organize a grand suffrage procession in Washington, DC on 3 March 1913. She organized the parade on behalf of the National American Woman Suffrage Association (NAWSA), the only group working to win women the vote on a national scale. She later founded her own organization, the National Woman’s Party, and charted a surprisingly aggressive course of social protests to convince Congress to pass a woman suffrage amendment to the Constitution.

Alice Paul lived long enough to see Women’s Equality Day established; she died in 1977. She did not live to see the project which consumed the remaining years of her life ratified — an Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution. In 2014, a renewed effort emerged to pass the ERA.

As Women’s Equality Day is celebrated around the country today, here are a few things you may not know about suffrage leader and ERA author Alice Paul:

1. Alice Paul was proudly a birthright Quaker, but as she became interested in politics, she became frustrated with her faith’s reluctance to actively work for woman suffrage. We often associate Quakers with political activism, but in the late nineteenth century, the vast majority of Quakers disapproved of such efforts.

2. Paul loved dancing and sports. Indeed, her love for physical activity was a factor in drawing her into social protest, first in England, then in America. In her high school and college years, she played softball, basketball, hockey, and tennis, and also ice skated when she could. She learned to dance while attending Swarthmore College near Philadelphia and regretted her few opportunities to attend dances in her later years.

3. Paul was arrested seven times in England for her suffrage activism, but only once in America. The longest sentence she served in Britain was one month. In the United States, she was sentenced to seven months, but only served one.

4. Paul endured forced feeding fifty-five times in London’s Holloway Prison in 1909 and perhaps another twenty-five times while at the District of Columbia’s Jail in 1917. Authorities used forced feeding to break the hunger strikes initiated by suffrage prisoners. Some women suffered health problems as a result. Alice Paul struggled with digestive issues for years after and may have lost her sense of smell.

5. Paul is often portrayed as eager to leave NAWSA to found her own militant suffrage group. In fact, she did so only when her hand was forced. Divisions over strategy or tactics are nothing new to any political group and NAWSA itself came about only in 1890 after two long-estranged suffrage organizations compromised in order to present a united front. The 1914 effort to oust the controversial Alice Paul from NAWSA arose from multiple sources, including the current NAWSA president, Anna Howard Shaw and once-and-future president, Carrie Chapman Catt.

6. Paul’s persona as a leader combined stereotypically feminine and masculine traits in a way that invited fervent loyalty or deep-seated antipathy. Her dislike of the spotlight and ingrained modesty lent her a vulnerability which undercut concerns about her militant past and her powerful drive. Others found her charismatic authority threatening.

7. Though the protests of Paul’s National Woman’s Party are often described as “civil disobedience,” Paul believed all of her actions were completely within the law. Before Paul initiated picketing to protest the lack of a suffrage amendment in 1917, picketing was largely the province of labor organizations. After consulting with attorneys about the legality of the practice, Paul adapted the silent vigil of two earlier protests and sent “silent sentinels” to picket the White House. While labor picketing often prompted violence on both sides, Paul gave her troops strict instructions to remain non-violent. Violence was, however, visited upon them by bystanders outraged by the women’s insistence on pressing for suffrage while the country was engaged in World War I.

8. Paul’s most colorful protests occurred after the House of Representatives passed the suffrage amendment bill. It took another eighteen months to convince the Senate to pass the amendment. To maintain pressure on Congress, Alice Paul crafted watchfire protests across from the White House in Lafayette Square, during which suffragists burned President Wilson’s words about his much-celebrated belief in democracy. They even burned Wilson in effigy to urge him to use his political power to sway the Senate.

9. Alice Paul was not present during the frenzied effort to make Tennessee the ratifying state for the suffrage amendment. She longed to be at the Tennessee statehouse, but NWP lobbying required a constant input of cash. Her ability to raise funds surpassed anyone else’s, so she chose to stay in Washington to keep the money flowing. Paul’s ability to raise funds was a key factor in the success of the NWP.

10. Alice Paul bequeathed us the iconic images of the battle for the ballot: photographs of the 1913 procession, the 1917 White House pickets, the 1918 watchfire protests. These images speak to the courage, the persistence and the fortitude of all the women who fought to gain the most fundamental right of citizenship: the right to consent.

I’ve just come back from one month in Brazil (where I was, unexpectedly, pretty much incommunicado) to find that I missed the Australian stop of the multi-blog event One Shot World Tour, organized by the same group that put together the Summer Blog Blast Tour and this week’s Recommendations from Under the Radar. Some of the dishes served up at the several-course (Vegemite and all) Australian meal were: interviews with Margo Lanagan and Queenie Chan at 7 Imp Things and the YA YA YAs, respectively, and an exploration of John Marsden’s Tomorrow Series at Jen Robinson’s Page (see full OSWT schedule here).

I’d like to add my contribution, late as it may be, by pointing folks to award-winning Australian writer Susanne Gervay’s latest ya book, That’s Why I Wrote This Song, a cutting edge story set against the rock music scene, about sixteen year old girls connected through music as they search for identity. In a recent article contributed to PaperTigers, Gervay tells us: “[The book] embraces other mediums and technologies, in a collaborative work with my songwriter and musician daughter, Tory, who wrote the lyrics and rock music that are integral to the story (…). The story also has the dimension of film, as a young producer translated Tory’s song ‘Psycho Dad’ into a film clip.” The song and the video are available for downloading from the author’s website.

Hillary wasn't first. Nor was Ferraro. Have you heard of Belva Lockwood? I had not either before reading this fabulous picture book biography.

Belva once read that a person could move mountains if he or she only had faith. Belva believed this wholeheartedly, and lived her life accordingly. Belva was born in Niagara County, New York in the year 1830. She was the daughter of a farmer, and by the time she was a 39 she had already been married, had a child, been widowed, become a teacher and gotten involved in the suffrage movement. She decided that she wanted to attend law school. In 1869, however, not many law schools wanted to admit women, and the few that did certainly did not want to grant degrees to the women who attended. If you've figured anything out about Belva by now, you know that she found a way to get her deserved degree, and to have it signed by President Ulysses S. Grant to boot!

What could be next for Belva?

After becoming the first woman to graduate from the National University Law School, she became the first woman to practice law in the federal courts. She was the first woman to argue a case before the Supreme Court. She rode her tricycle around Washington D.C. oblivious to the stares from those around her. And then in 1884, Belva became the first woman to officially run for president.

Before the ratification of the vote, Belva ran for president! And she got votes. Votes from men. 4711 to be exact. She got more votes than that, but they were thrown out, since the men doing the counting could not believe that anyone would actually vote for a woman.

I found this story not only timely, but incredibly inspiring as well. An author's note, glossary and timeline are included, which make this ripe for classroom use. Do today's kids know that the vote was taken away from women in 1787 (1807 in the case of NJ)? Author Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen has done a great job of writing a readable storyline filled with, but not laden down by, facts surrounding suffrage and the political process. Courtney A. Martin's illustrations reflect the time period, though I do wish that the cat accompanying Belva everywhere was explained! This is a book that deserves a prominent place in classroom and library alike!

I was very excited to read your post about this book, and am very glad to see it being received in such a positive way. I too agree that as far as timely biographies go, this one does have something to offer a teachers and students alike. Belva was a very inspiring woman who did remarkable things during a time when being a woman meant significant societal limitations.

As a side note, I'd like to mention that Belva's little cat was intended to be a silent, secondary narrative device-- meant primarily to give a very strong woman like Belva a sensitive, human quality with which children of all ages can more easily relate.

It is always a challenge for an illustrator to bring visual life to what can easily become a stale, dated, and dry biography. It was my belief that the addition of a friend for Belva would add a symbolic relationship element, and make her seem not so very alone on her amazing journey through life.

Thanks again for the post! Sincerely,Courtney Autumn Martinwww.c-a-martin.com

Thanks for dropping by, Courtney! I do agree that the cat made me think that Belva was a bit softer than she appears sometimes! I am glad that I can now answer the inevitable questions from my 3rd graders. Sometimes during the year I ask my students to illustrate stories...I will make sure to use Belva and her cat as an example of describing a character in a subtle way!

Shari: Your new book sounds fascinating. Would you tell my readers what it is about?

Linda: The book is a biography of the childhood of Rose O’Neill, the creator of the Kewpie cartoons and later the doll. Born in Wilkes-Barre, PA, in 1874 her family was wealthy and for her first three years, she was a princess living in the Emerald Cottage. There came a depression and despite all her Papa’s efforts, he lost everything. The family moved west by Conestoga wagon loaded with hundreds of books to an abandoned sod house on the Nebraska prairies. Rose’s father was bookseller and hoped to start over. Artists often reveal their talents in early childhood and hers was most unusual. Rose O’Neill: The Girl Who Loved To Draw follows her life until she was established as an illustrator in NYC.

Shari: What time period are we talking about?

Linda: It covers the years 1874 until 1900. The afterword covers some of her adult years. There are many books covering that period in her life. I wanted to show her artistic talents as a child and reveal how they developed. The Illustrations in the book show the influences she experienced as a child. Kewpie was her best-remembered creation, but Rose had become the highest paid illustrator in NYC long before the Kewpie. She broke all the social rules and reinvented the roll for women using humor and graces. The book is filled with over a hundred of her illustrations.

Shari: How did you learn about Rose O’Neill? Am I the only one who didn’t know about her?

Linda: I lived near her final home in Branson, Missouri. The home had burned completely in 1947 three years after her death. When my family moved to the area I was in high school. I discovered Mary Trimble’s Sheppard of the Hill Farm where there was a small museum containing original art and sculpture by Rose O’Neill. I was an aspiring artist and visited the museum often, falling in love with Rose’s work. As I studied her history, I came to realize she was a very important person in the early part of the century.

No, you aren’t the only person who doesn’t know about Rose O’Neill. Many people know aboutthe Kewpie Doll, it is even listed in the dictionary, but they don’t know the creator. In fact, the Kewpies were a cartoon series before there was a doll. Kewpie is a turn on the Roman god Cupid who is synonymous with love, but if you read the myths, he was a trickster, using foolishness to do his deed. Kewpies are the opposite. They “Do good deed in funny ways,” their motto. That motto and the philosophy behind Rose’s work for children made her an endearing figure in America, Europe and Japan. Everyone had a Kewpie. Even in Anne Frank Dairy, she wrote of having a Kewpie. The Doll was the first doll to be manufactured and distributed in mass around the world.

To answer your question. Sadly, few people know or remember this remarkable woman, even though she was a superstar in her time and was mobbed by fans in the many countries she visited. She became a millionaire, which was unheard of for a woman to earn that much money from her own efforts. Rose used her money to help young artist, poets, writers and musicians.

So why isn’t she well known? My theory is that she was a political hot potato. She didn’t fit intothe social mold set for women. She was loved by thousands, which gave her power in the suffrage movement. As the century moved on, her contributions were minimized by the business world and politicians, but she had invented new techniques in illustration, created a new business model for mass production, she brought to light a segment of society that needed to be served through books and toys, the children. The business and political world then using her inventions, never gave her credit and in fact used her accomplishments against her. They would say, “She only drew pictures of babies and made dolls.”

Shari: Was the research for this book difficult? Is there a lot of information out there about her?

Linda: Yes and no. There is a lot of information about her if you know to look. The research was made easier because I had lived in the area where many people knew her. I was able to make contact with the executor of her estate and great grandnephew David O’Neill. No book had ever been written of her childhood. I was able piece together information from an unpublished autobiography lent to me by David O’Neill, he also supplied some of the photographs. The dates and locations were found by studying deeds and legal records from courthouses, news articles and general information came from historical societies. I also made a research trip back to Branson, Missouri to study a collection of documents at the College of the Ozarks research library. The Library of Congress had the photograph of Rose O’Neill that is on the cover. There are Kewpie clubs in most states of the union and many overseas. Japan is crazy for Kewpies and they have done a Japanese version of the dolls. Ordourf, Germany is having a festival in 2013 the 100th Anniversary of the manufacturing of the Kewpie Doll.

Shari: Was it difficult to find a publisher?

Linda: Yes and double yes! I submitted 28 proposals and had just about given up, my deadline for finding a publisher was coming to an end. The answers were always the same, “She isn’t famous enough.” You have to understand that most of the editors in publishing today are young, not long out of school. So, the word “Kewpie” wasn’t even part of their vocabulary. I had met Paula Morrow an editor for Cricket Magazine several years ago and had talked to her about the manuscript. She left Cricket shortly after I had first met her and started a small publishing company, Boxing Day Books. Paula told me, at a workshop she was leading that she had started this new company and said she would be interested in the manuscript. I had a deadline I was working toward, but not getting far, the 100th Anniversary of Kewpie, April 2009. When she heard that, a plan was put together. You could call it serendipity, but authors need to be involved in conferences and workshops to get to know the people in publishing.

Shari: What age level is this book for?

Linda: It was written for children age nine to twelve, but is a cross over book for adults that are Kewpie fans. Since there never had been a book on Rose O’Neill childhood, people at Kewpiesta, the 100th Birthday Party were thrilled. I had been working for years for this Anniversary and the unveiling of my book. The people that had Kewpies in their childhood brought there grandchildren and great grandchildren to share this part of their lives. The book, filled with full color illustrations had new information for collectors. I am hoping to interest schools, libraries and interested community groups in the book because there are so few books on American women artist, and Rose O’Neill was that and more. I am giving programs for people of all ages to revive the name of Rose O’Neill and tell about one of the great people thatworked to make it possible for women to vote and follow their dreams.

Shari: Were you able to include examples of her work in your book?

Linda: That is interesting you should ask. I wrote the book and yes, I was able to include four ofmy own illustrations. I was concerned about this because it would be only okay to me if the illustrations complimented Rose’s work, after all the book is about Rose O’Neill and her work. I think it worked out okay.

Rose O'Neill: The Girl Who Loved to DrawISBN: 978-0-9798332-3-6by Linda Brewsterage 9 to 12Boxing Day Books

By Jill Liddington

Elizabeth Crawford and I, suffrage historians both, watched with keen interest in early 2009 as the 1911 census began to go online. On Tuesday 13 January selected English counties became fully searchable by the public. Excitement was palpable. By midnight, there had been 3.4m searches and 17.4m pages viewed, particularly by family historians. But it was suffragettes who grabbed attention – with headlines like ‘1911 Census: the secret suffragettes who refused to be counted’.

We joined the searchers at the National Archives to look for the census schedules of known Votes for Women campaigners. Among our early discoveries were, as we expected, suffragette evaders – whose names were absent on their own household census. We also came across resisters writing ‘No Vote, No Census’ angrily across their schedule. For instance, one suffragette in Essex wrote on hers, at an unrepentantly defiant angle:

‘I, Dorothea Rock, in the absence of the male occupier, refuse to fill up this Census paper as, in the eyes of the Law, women do not count, neither shall they be counted.’

But we found many other schedules at odds with our expectations. All our suffrage reading had led us to believe that census evasion and resistance had been very widespread up and down the country. But the primary evidence we were uncovering suggested considerably lower levels of boycott activity; and this hinted at a more complex mix of individual motives in households on census night. We were puzzled by these unexpected suffragette rejections of the call to boycott the census. So we began to read more widely and to revisit the broader historical context.

Our article suggests how we’ve tried to make sense of the puzzling evidence we were uncovering. We named this ‘the battle for the 1911 census’ as a way of suggesting explanations for the patterns we found emerging.

Read on for an excerpt from their paper ”‘Women do not count, neither shall they be counted’: Suffrage, Citizenship and the Battle for the 1911 Census”, which is published in History Workshop Journal, Advanced Access, 23 February 2011. You can read the full article for free on the journal’s website.

* * * * *

Amid all the suffragette propaganda, it was probably the Women’s Freedom League’s uncompromising Manifesto, ‘No Votes for Women – No Census’, that had widest and most immediate impact. Issued under the names of Edith How Martyn and Charlotte Despard, it quickly caught the eye of The Times, which quoted from it extensively. The Times dilated on WFL plans to refuse ‘to give intimate personal details’ to the enumerator, and, under the heading ‘Obstruct Government Business’, noted that the WFL even incited members to:

… oppose, hamper, destroy if possible, the power of an unrepresentative Government to govern women, refuse to be taxed, boycott the Census, refuse all official information until women have won that which is their absolute right – the right of a voice and vote.

The very next day The Times published a short yet pointed letter rebutting this Manifesto argument, from the eminent educational reformer Professor Michael Sadler of Manchester University. He warned the WFL that ‘to boycott the Census would be a crime against science’ because ‘upon the completeness of the Census returns’ depended future legislation to better the conditions f

0 Comments on ‘Women do not count, neither shall they be counted’ as of 1/1/1900

So, why Catherine Jinks? As different authors were being bandied about, I began to think about "what is an Australian author." And one thought led to the other, and I decided I wanted to focus on an author whose books weren't set in Australia. And, to be honest, I wanted to do an author I had already read (my To Be Read and To Be Reviewed piles are scary things.)

So, Catherine Jinks and her books about Pagan Kidrouk; an Australian whose books are are set in the 12th century, in Jerusalem (and, later, Europe.) Whose books are historical fiction and accurate and funny as hell. But... you'll have to tune in tomorrow for the reviews!

0 Comments on One Shot World Tour Tomorrow! as of 8/14/2007 11:36:00 AM

I have a love for sidekicks. What would Harry be without Ron & Hermione? Buffy without the Scoobies? Colin without Hassan? Russel without Min & Gunnar? Sidekicks are the salt and pepper of life; totally essential. The hero is just bland without them.

True to this sentiment, the Ranger's Apprentice series by Australian author John Flanagan just wouldn't be the same without Horace. He's a bit of the strong silent type, and maybe not quite as clever as our hero, the eponymous Ranger's Apprentice, Will, but some of the greatest triumphs in the series have been Horace's. Furthermore, Horace is the most dynamic character - he's grown the most, and is, frankly, the source of most of the laughter. And after this latest installment, I'm almost beginning to think that the series should be named after Horace, rather than Will.

Last we saw dear Will, in The Burning Bridge, he and Evelyn had been kidnapped by the Skandians - the very men they had been fighting. They have been made slaves to the violent, Viking-like society in TheIcebound Land. Meanwhile, Halt (the Ranger) has been refused permission to go after his kidnapped apprentice and is about to take drastic measures. Measures that will certainly alter the course of his life - if they don't kill him.

Horace enters the story and suddenly the tale has got some legs. Horace and Halt play off each other so well. There's humor and their storyline has the most action. Will and Evelyn are definitely in serious danger, but I (a lowly reader), think it might have worked better had Evelyn & Will's roles been reversed. However, Erak, their captor, is a lovely, complex character. I'm quite glad to see that book 7 is entitled Erak's Ransom. It's ominous, but I'd very much like to see this character come back (and not go the way of some other lovely characters from book 1; into oblivion).

What bothered me:Will. Seriously. That storyline better pay off down the road, 'cause otherwise...This book felt very much like a bridge. Something to get us from book 2 to book 4 (The Oakleaf Bearers). We were just marking time. Will went through some hellish stuff, and I hope that there is some lingering affect to effect some character development. I guess I could always order the next FOUR books that are out in Australia and find out. By the way, What on Earth is the hold up? Is the Penguin/Philomel afraid of flooding the market? I know I'm not the only crazy fanatic out there for this series. Dude. We are SO going to read them. Just hurry up already!

Still a great series, and Ruins of Gorlan is still one of the books I give out most at the library.

You know, I have to admit that I looked at these books and passed them over. I kind of said, "Hm. Rangers." And now I must get back to them (finding a library in Glasgow will be my FIRST job.)

eisha said, on 8/15/2007 3:37:00 PM

I had a young patron at my former library who LOVED these books, and even though if he liked something it usually meant I would too, I still haven't gotten around to them. Thanks for the kick in the pants!

Remember how in John Green's An Abundance of Katherines, Colin's sidekick Hassan generally introduced himself with the phrase "not a terrorist"? You know why he does it, and you sympathize. But really, that wasn't Hassan's story, so while it was great to have some ethnicity in popular teen lit, it makes ya kinda want to see something from the perspective of a contemporary Muslim teen wandering around a world that maybe isn't the friendliest at the moment.

Amal has decided it's time. She's ready to wear the headscarf, the hijab, full-time. This means in public, and in an Australia only a couple years beyond 9/11, that isn't going to go unnoticed when she returns to school from the holiday break. Her Melbourne prep school isn't going to know what to do with her. But she's ready. She thinks.

I think that Abdel-Fattah nails it. The book is incredibly approachable and Amal is grounded and smart; she knows what she's in for and she's prepared to stand up for herself. Abdel-Fattah is occasionally in danger of becoming didactic, and the writing itself is not fantastic, but the fun, genuine, and honest tone of the novel in general overcomes those tendencies. Amal's voice will certainly appeal to readers, and I won't have a problem recommending the title.

And, Jackie, this book succeeds because it's not a message book. My 11-year-old has read it several times for both enjoyment and because the issues presented interest her greatly (she was in London during both July bombings, her best skating friend is Muslim).

TadMack said, on 8/15/2007 11:02:00 AM

It sounds really great - and Kelly, your daughter reads above her grade level, doesn't she? I thought this was for older teens. But I am looking forward to reading it very much!!

Susan T. said, on 8/15/2007 11:40:00 AM

Hey, Jackie, I think I'd like this one. Thanks for the review.

eisha said, on 8/15/2007 3:50:00 PM

I like the Aussie cover too - you can see it in that Inside a Dog interview.

Pagan lives in Jerusalem in the 12th century; he's an odd mix. A penniless orphan who can read and write; a boy raised in a monastery who for the last few years has lived a rough and dangerous life on the streets of Jerusalem; a squire to a Templar Knight; and he's a Christian Arab, born in Bethlehem, looking "like a Bedouin boy".

Pagan may be a squire, but don't get the wrong idea; he's not some perfect, holy person (that would be the knight he's assigned to, Lord Roland de Bram). No, Pagan at 16 is . . . how shall I put this? Pagan owes people money. The people he owes are as ruthless and brutal as the times. And the job in the protected Templar headquarters will provide Pagan money to pay back the people he owes. Problem is, that won't be for six months; so in the meanwhile, it's a safe and secure place to, well, hide. Cause that's the kind of guy Pagan is.

The Good:

I love Pagan; he's funny, he's a bit of a coward, he says he wants to avoid work and danger yet somehow, he finds himself being a good squire to Lord Roland.

Lord Roland is described as "the noblest of souls and a godly man and a great fighter. He is a gift from our Lord." Pagan's response? To dub Roland "Saint George" ("he looks like something out off a stained-glass window") and decide that "if he's as good as he looks, I'm in big trouble." Roland is the perfect Templar Knight; or, at least, he tries to be. Roland is a true believer; and at first Pagan thinks that means Roland is humorless and perhaps naive.

Lord Roland has never met someone quite like Pagan: blunt. common. and a free thinker. An orphan raised in a monastery who can read and write; who ran away and has been living in the streets of Jerusalem.

The relationship and friendship between Roland and Pagan is one of the strengths of this book; Pagan, unknowingly, grounds Roland; Roland pushes Pagan to be better than he is. Roland thinks he knows what is right and what is true; follow the rules, particularly the rules of the Templar Knights, and all will be well. But, as Saladin's forces get closer and closer, Roland is realizing that following the rules isn't always the right thing to do. Not when people's lives are at stake. Pagan grows; but so, too, does Roland.

The history! This is set during the months right before and after Saladin attacks Jerusalem. We watch the Templar Knights go from "top of the world" to bargaining for the lives of the inhabitants of Jerusalem.

The details. On the one hand, this is full of historical detail; Jinks is a medieval scholar, after all. But, on the other, Pagan talks like a modern teen; there is no fake-old language or linguistic styles. Descriptions of the pilgrims who come to Jerusalem are hilarious and sad; Pagan himself will keep you laughing, even as the situation in Jerusalem gets worse and worse.

I love how the past is presented in her books. The past isn't glorified and prettied up; there is vomit and blood and streets smell of piss and dung. It's honest and blunt; yet at the same time, it's funny. Pagan is sarcastic and realistic; he's full of one liners.

Historical fiction can be a hard sell; but Pagan's Crusade is an easy sell. While this isn't as over the top as Monty Python, the POV is Pythonesque. For, example, the pilgrims start playing "name that saint." (Here's my turn at playing the game: "I was a thief; I was crucified; my name starts with D; who am I?") Unfortunately the game doesn't last long, because the "my name starts with" falls apart when the vast number of pilgrims cannot read or write. But, for that matter, neither can Roland. He was trained to fight; not to read.

Pagan talks the language of a modern kid, yes, but he is of his times; and it's a great way to introduce readers to this fascinating, complex, bloody time period.

Another way to describe it? It's the same setting and similar events as the 2005 film, Kingdom of Heaven. But the book is way better (and much more accurate) than the film.

Pagan's story is continued in other books; as he follows Roland to France:

Actually, it’s quite appropriate that I’d be on the late end of posting since I was late to the One Shot World Tour itself. I saw that Chasing Ray was covering Australian authors and I had recently read an awesome book that came to my library from Down Under. I asked if pretty please I might be included in the blogging extravaganza, and here I am. Many of the blogs are posting the whole list of participants with the links, but (1) since so many are doing it, you probably don’t need it here, and (2) frankly, I don’t know how to capture the text with all the links intact. Instead, I will link back to the originator of the tour, and the full list of participating bloggers, at Chasing Ray.

If you like your teen angst with a little humor, or a lot of humor, have I got the book for you. This may be one of my new favorites, and I’m only two years late in finding it. Though granted, since it’s an Australian import, those books take time to reach my library. You’d think we were making the author swim them to us.

Calma Harrison has an uncalm life. Her absent father turns up after five years, her mother is keeping a secret from her, and her new best friend is hiding something terrible. Calma tries to solve everything, but it doesn’t always work the way she plans or thinks. The book has hilarious situations and great lines throughout, but it’s not all madcap romp. There are serious undertones of trust and friendship and relationships. But the funny sections are super-sharp funny. Like going to get her hair done fancy for her date, and then... well you should read it, but I’ll give you a quote:

After much screwing up of the eyes and facial contortions, I managed to end up looking relatively normal  a considerable improvement on my usual efforts, where I wouldn’t be out of place in a Picasso painting.

When Calma goes to get a job, I cracked up at the long description of the slow-moving, couldn’t-care-less employee at the wrongly-named customer service desk. Boy, did that strike a chord. Or when Calma gets the job...

I nearly choked when he told me the pay rate. I was under the impression that child slavery had been abolished. A sudden vision came to me  a muscled manager in a loincloth whipping cowering employees for not keeping up with the rhythm of beating drums. I didn’t say anything, though. I even tried to manufacture an expression of unbridled joy at the prospect of working for an hourly sum you’d expect to find down the back of a sofa.

I love how she calls her mom The Fridge, since they primarily exchange notes on the refrigerator due to her mom’s busy work schedule. I love that she invents a Fast Forward and Rewind button for within her book so she can move the story along. I love that she writes poems  after trying to get away with writing poetry badly  for different parts of her life. Really, I love everything about this book, and I can’t recommend it strongly enough.

Am I Right or Am I Right? is actually the second book about Calma Harrison. I read the first book, The Crimes and Punishments of Miss Payne, yesterday morning when I woke up ridiculously early and couldn’t get back to sleep (now I’ve explained a bit of today’s sleeping in, so you won’t think I’m lazy). The center of this book is the horrible teacher assigned to Calma’s English class. The kids call her the Pitbull, and while she is mean to everyone, she has a particular vengeance for Calma’s mate Kiffo. Though Kiffo and Calma seem to have nothing in common, they have a special bond that is explained in a small side story throughout the book. Trying to bring down Miss Payne, the two of them get in over their heads, with consequences that are sometimes hysterical and sometimes tragic.

While I personally prefer the teen angst in the second book, The Crimes and Punishments of Miss Payne is a great read with wonderful descriptions  some of them with a true Australian flavor. Take the first paragraph of the book, in which Calma is writing an assignment to use similes:

Kiffo’s hair is like a glowing sunset. However, unlike a sunset, it lasts for a long time and doesn’t suddenly turn black and become studded with stars. It is as wild as a dingo on drugs and sticks up like ears of corn after a cyclone. Maybe like a field of corn that is the color of sunset and has been trampled by a whole load of drug-crazed dingoes during a cyclone.

In describing Calma’s overabundant chest, the author uses the imagery of her having a “couple of wombats tucked down there.” The writing is clever, and again sharp-funny. One caveat: Both books are recommended for home reading only, unless you like laughing out loud in public and having to explain yourself. I’ve done that too many times myself, and it never feels less awkward.

Now go take a virtual walkabout of the One Shot World Tour via the full list of participants at Chasing Ray. Until next time, ooroo.

8 Comments on One Shot World Tour: Am I Right or Am I Right?, last added: 8/16/2007

Great reviews. I was surprised to read "Am I Right or Am I Right?" was a book title. I thought it was your post title and it was just, well, so.....you.

jules said, on 8/15/2007 9:58:00 AM

Sounds like a good book. Thanks for the info.

Jules, whose TBR pile is dangerously wobbly

Susan T. said, on 8/15/2007 11:28:00 AM

All new books to me. Thanks, MR! I'm getting quite the Australian education during this blog tour.

HipWriterMama said, on 8/15/2007 11:35:00 AM

These books sound great.

TadMack said, on 8/15/2007 12:05:00 PM

Wow - both of those books sound amazing! My biggest comment as I read through this tour is, "Man, how could I have missed *this* one!?" so kudos to you for introducing yet another!

And you deserve to sleep in, anyway. You do brilliance the other nine months of the year. Sleep. It's summer.

eisha said, on 8/15/2007 5:44:00 PM

Dude, for serious, this OSWT is killing me. These sound great. Like I need another book on my pile, much less two.

Love what Amy said. So true.

Thanks (sorta) for the reviews!

Jen Robinson said, on 8/15/2007 9:17:00 PM

I'm a sucker for a humorous voice. Thanks for the recommendation. I added it to my list.

Sara said, on 8/16/2007 6:23:00 AM

"You'd think we were making the author swim them to us." (hee-hee. It might be in the contract, you never know.) Thanks for the great review! I'll be looking for both of these.

BTW, I never explain myself when I laugh out loud while reading in public. You just hold up the book in the direction of the starers and tap the cover so they can get a good gander at the author and title. Then you re-commence reading with a smug smile.